Webbs’ Seed Catalogue 1882 found by chance

Sometimes, what you find on or in the back pf an old photograph can be as interesting or revealing as the actual photograph itself. Here is a perfect example of that.

On 13 Sept, I wrote about a photo taken of 39 people, centered on Mr & Mrs W H Foster, taken at Apley Park (now often known as Apley Hall). It is large photo on heavy card & was framed, so I had to remove it from its frame to get a digital copy (by our very local photographer Karen Hartnell-Beavis). As I did so, we found this 1882 Webbs seed catalogue had been used to pad the back of the photo. Whoever framed the photo had 1) used Webbs seeds (based not far away in Worcestershire) & 2) had kept that catalogue for 19 years from 1882-1901 !

We have so far found very few historical records relating to Apley Walled Garden, but it’s very possible that in 1882, the Fosters (who bought the Apley Estate in 1867) were buying their seeds from Webbs. I’ve just shared copies of these catalogue pages with Mr Webb, the current chairman of Webbs Seeds.